Abstract
Research has demonstrated the power of emotion regulation in managing challenges students face in different learning contexts. However, emotion research in team-learning where challenges become more evident is yet in its infancy. The current study examines case studies of two teams (high and low performing) in a hackathon where the task involved building a novel computer program to demonstrate a physics phenomenon; and explores how shared emotion regulation impacts teamwork and the types of challenges teams face (e.g., different goals/priorities; unreliable members; emotional imbalance; being off track, inefficient communication). Using a mixed-methods approach, we analyze team interactions in terms of emotion regulation strategies student teams apply and the challenge types/levels they encounter. Comparative excerpts as well as descriptive statistics based on video data of student interactions, interview inputs, and responses to several questionnaires are provided to show differences among the cases. The team with higher shared emotional regulation mainly had external challenges that were less frustrating and demanding than relational challenges, while the team with lower shared regulation had internal challenges as well as external challenges and thus performed poorly. Our findings showed that when team members apply shared emotion regulation strategies, they build a cohesive atmosphere and synergistic team relationships that enable them to contribute to the overall team goals. This study also has implications for assisting educational teams in challenging environments. We hope that our paper will generate new ways of understanding and seeing shared emotion regulation in team settings.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
Data are available on request due to privacy or other restrictions.
References
Angarita, M. A. M., & Nolte, A. (2020). What do we know about hackathon outcomes and how to support them?–A systematic literature review. In International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Social Computing. Springer, (pp. 50–64)
Bakhtiar, A., Webster, E. A., & Hadwin, A. F. (2018). Regulation and socio-emotional interactions in a positive and a negative group climate. Metacognition and Learning, 13, 57–90.
Brett, J., Behfar, K., & Sanchez-Burks, J. (2014). Managing cross-cultural conflicts: A close look at the implication of direct versus indirect confrontation. In A. Ashkanasy, O. Ayoko, & K. A. Jehn (Eds.), Handbook of research in conflict management (pp. 136–154). Edward Edgar Publishing.
Carroll, J. M., Rosson, M. B., Convertino, G., & Ganoe, C. H. (2006). Awareness and teamwork in computer-supported collaborations. Interacting with Computers, 18(1), 21–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intcom.2005.05.005
Denzau, A., & North, D. (1994). Shared mental models: Ideologies and institutions. Kyklos, 47(1), 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.1994.tb02246.x
Falk Olesen, J., & Halskov, K. (2020). 10 years of research with and on hackathons. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM designing interactive systems conference (pp. 1073–1088).
Gelfand, M. J., Harrington, J. R., & Leslie, L. M. (2014). Conflict cultures: A new frontier for conflict management research and practice. In O. Ayoko, N. Ashkanasy, & K. Jehn (Eds.), Handbook of conflict management research (pp. 109–135). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Grau, V., & Whitebread, D. (2012). Self and social regulation of learning during collaborative activities in the classroom: The interplay of individual and group cognition. Learning and Instruction, 22(6), 401–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2012.03.003
Gross, J. J. (2002). Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281–291. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0048577201393198
Gross, J. J. (2008). Emotion regulation. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones, & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 497–512). The Guilford Press.
Isohätälä, J., Järvenoja, H., & Järvelä, S. (2017). Socially shared regulation of learning and participation in social interaction in collaborative learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 81, 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2016.10.006
Järvelä, S., & Hadwin, A. F. (2013). New frontiers: Regulating learning in CSCL. Educational Psychologist, 48(1), 25–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2012.748006
Järvelä, S., Volet, S., & Järvenoja, H. (2010). Research on motivation in collaborative learning: Moving beyond the cognitive–situative divide and combining individual and social processes. Educational Psychologist, 45(1), 15–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520903433539
Järvenoja, H., & Järvelä, S. (2009). Emotion control in collaborative learning situations: Do students regulate emotions evoked by social challenges? British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(3), 463–481. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709909X402811
Järvenoja, H., Volet, S., & Järvelä, S. (2013). Regulation of emotions in socially challenging learning situations: An instrument to measure the adaptive and social nature of the regulation process. Educational Psychology, 33(1), 31–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2012.742334
Järvenoja, H., Malmberg, J., Törmänen, T., Mänty, K., Haataja, E., Ahola, S., & Järvelä, S. (2020). A Collaborative Learning design for promoting and analyzing adaptive motivation and emotion regulation in the science classroom. Frontiers in Education. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.00111
Kazemitabar, M. A. (2019). Examining the effects of socially-shared emotion regulation on team coordination in a physics programming competition (dissertation). McGill University.
Kazemitabar, M., Lajoie, S. P., & Doleck, T. (2022). A process model of team emotion regulation: An expansion of gross’ individual ER model. Learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 33, 100612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2022.100612
Kazemitabar, M. A., Lajoie, S. P., & Li, T. (2022). A classification of challenges encountered in complex teamwork settings. International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, 17(2), 225–247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-022-09370-0
Kerrissey, M., Satterstrom, P., & Edmondson, A. (2020). Into the fray: Adaptive approaches to studying novel teamwork forms. Organizational Psychology Review, 10(2), 62–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386620912833
Mathieu, J. E., Heffner, T. S., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & Cannon-Bowers, J. A. (2000). The influence of shared mental models on team process and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(2), 273.
McEwan, D., Ruissen, G., Eys, M., Zumbo, B., & Beauchamp, M. (2017). The effectiveness of teamwork training on teamwork behaviors and team performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled interventions. PLoS ONE, 12(1), e0169604. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169604
Mtsweni, J., & Abdullah, H. (2015). Stimulating and maintaining students’ interest in computer science using the hackathon model. The Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning, 10(1), 85–97.
Näykki, P., Järvelä, S., Kirschner, P., & Järvenoja, H. (2014). Socio-emotional conflict in collaborative learning—A process-oriented case study in a higher education context. International Journal of Educational Research, 68, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2014.07.001
O’Neill, T., & Salas, E. (2018). Creating high performance teamwork in organizations. Human Resource Management Review, 28(4), 325–331. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2017.09.001
Panadero, E., & Järvelä, S. (2015). Socially shared regulation of learning: A review. European Psychologist, 20(3), 190–203. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000226
Panadero, E., Kirschner, P. A., Järvelä, S., Malmberg, J., & Järvenoja, H. (2015). How individual self-regulation affects group regulation and performance: A shared regulation intervention. Small Group Research, 46(4), 431–454. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496415591219
Planas-Lladó, A., Feliu, L., Arbat, G., Pujol, J., Suñol, J., Castro, F., & Martí, C. (2020). An analysis of teamwork based on self and peer evaluation in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(2), 191–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2020.1763254
Rafaeli, A., & R., & Cheshin, A. (2009). Sensemaking in virtual teams: The impact of emotions and support tools on team mental models and team performance. International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 24, 151–182. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470745267.ch5
Salas, E., Sims, D. E., & Burke, C. S. (2005). Is there a “Big Five” in teamwork? Small Group Research, 36(5), 555–599. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496405277134
Schmutz, J., Meier, L., & Manser, T. (2019). How effective is teamwork really? The relationship between teamwork and performance in healthcare teams: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Medical Journal Open, 9(9), e028280. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028280
Thompson, L., & Fine, G. A. (1999). Socially shared cognition, affect, and behavior: A review and integration. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3(4), 278–302. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0304_1
Ujitani, E., & Volet, S. (2008). Socio-emotional challenges in international education Insight into reciprocal understanding and intercultural relational development. Journal of Research in International Education, 7(3), 279–303. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240908099975
Volet, S., & Mansfield, C. (2006). Group work at university: Significance of personal goals in the regulation strategies of students with positive and negative appraisals. Higher Education Research & Development, 25(4), 341–356. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360600947301
Wang, S., Yeoh, W., Ren, J., & Lee, A. (2021). Learnings and implications of virtual hackathon. Journal of Computer Information Systems. https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2020.1864679
Winne, P., Hadwin, A., & Perry, N. (2013). Metacognition and computer-supported collaborative learning. In C. Hmelo-Silver, C. Chinn, C. Chann, & A. O’Donnell (Eds.), International handbook of collaborative learning. New York: Routledge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no relevant financial or nonfinancial interests to disclose. This article is based on a doctoral dissertation (Kazemitabar, 2019) conducted by the first author at McGill University.
Ethics statement
The study was approved by the institution’s Research Ethics Board.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
This article is based on a doctoral dissertation (Kazemitabar, 2019) conducted by the first author at McGill University. Accessible via: https://www.proquest.com/docview/2515016557.
Appendix A
Appendix A
Socially shared emotion regulation (Developed based on the AIRE instrument; Järvenoja et al., 2013).
In light of the challenges you dealt, did you or your team do any of following in order to deal with your experienced emotions and re-engage in building common knowledge of team tasks and member roles or mutual trust? Please indicate and rate.
Shared emotion regulation strategies | T/ K (TRUST or Knowledge) | Didn’t happen 1 | 2 | Sometimes happened 3 | 4 | Happened a lot 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. We understood that we have to reconcile our goals closer to one another | ||||||
2. We decided that we had to work out the situation together in order to carry on working | ||||||
3. We considered each other’s feelings when criticizing each other’s work | ||||||
4. To resolve conflict we needed to keep open-minded and learn from one another | ||||||
5. We reminded each other that our discussions should be friendly and polite |
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Kazemitabar, M., Lajoie, S.P. & Doleck, T. Emotion regulation in teamwork during a challenging hackathon: Comparison of best and worst teams. J. Comput. Educ. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-023-00282-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-023-00282-y